ONE OF US

Austria, 2015, 86 minutes, Colour.
Jack Hofer, Simon Morze, Markus Schleinzer.
Directed by Stephan Richter.

This is a small film from Austria. Its title indicates that it deals with ordinary people and, in fact, the setting of the film is a local large supermarket and the warehouse at the back.

The central characters are young teenagers, hanging around the area, playing, getting into trouble, sometimes being angrily assertive. This is true of the central character, Julian. Outside the supermarket he meets a young teenager, just out of prison, who has had trouble with the supermarket and the manager. There are other friends, some girlfriends.

Inside the supermarket, an older teenager has just got a job, in the butcher’s section, about to work his way up. He has had some past contacts with some of the characters outside, one of them wanting him to steal a coffee-maker for him.

The main adult characters include some local police who experience some media criticism of their methods, two men who are rather aggressive towards the teenagers and a woman, mother of one of them. The other character is the manager of the supermarket, efficient in his work, demanding of his staff, clashing with those outside.

Ultimately, there is an attempted robbery, some shooting, death – all in the context of ordinary suburban lives.

1. A contemporary story, youth, city suburbs, crime? The Austrian settings?

2. The title, ordinary people? The supermarket, those who work there, the shoppers? Youth, crime, the police, parents? And the role of the manager in the supermarket and his authority?

3. The supermarket focus, the images of the aisles, the stock, cleaning the aIsles, the warehouse? The musical score?

4. Julian, seeing him initially prone on the floor of the supermarket? His age, his girlfriend, wandering around the area, across from the supermarket, playing soccer games, bikes? Sitting and watching, his friends? The encounter with Marco, the conversations? The encounter with Isham? His anger at the manager, shopping, moving goods, his being ousted, reaction? With Marco, participating in the robbery? The consequences and his death?

5. Isham, his age, in the car, his wife and her new boyfriend, wanting the baby seat in the car, taking the boy shopping, but his being broke? The friendship with Marco, out of jail? Applying for the job, the altercation with the manager? His reaction, the robbery?

6. Marco, young, in prison, sitting around the supermarket, interactions with the police, friendship with Isham? Getting Julian to buy his drink? Drink and drugs, the decision to rob the supermarket? His being wounded?

7. The young man, his son of his father as a butcher, applying for the job, interactions with the manager, the details of his work, promotion, the encounter with the shoplifter? Stealing the coffeemaker? Watching Julian knock over the trolleys? His being called back after the robbery?

8. The manager, type, running the supermarket? Employing the young man as a butcher? The clash with Julian, the interaction with Isham’s application for a job? The experience of the shoplifter? His being called back after the robbery?

9. The police, the papers criticisms of them, hard work, tired, one of them shopping, answering the survey, impulsive buying? The other policeman, being hard on youth? The mother, taking her daughter home? Their being called to the robbery at the supermarket? The shootings? The aftermath?

10. The staging of the robbery, hiding, the police response, the shootings and death?

11. The portrait of contemporary society, a microcosm?